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What does Islam say about celebrating birthdays? Is it permissible to
celebrate birthdays? My children sometimes insist on having a birthday party
where we make a cake and light candles. We do not sing or do such things; we
just blow out the candles and congratulate them.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His
Messenger.

Dear questioner, thank you for your question and the confidence you place in
our service and we pray to Allah to enable us to render this service purely for
His Sake.

"By analogy, there is nothing wrong in celebrating birthdays, as long
as the celebration does not include any forbidden practices.”

Islam teaches Muslim to have a unique character and to be distinguished. A
Muslim is weaned on morality and avoiding blind imitation.Islam supports the celebration of a
birthday if it is an expression of gratitude to Allahfor His bounties, sustenance and blessings in man’s
life, as long as that celebration does not include anything that may displease
Allah, the Almighty.
Focusing on the issue of celebrating birthdays, we would like to start by
citing the following:

"In Islam, birthdays are not considered `eid (a festival) like `Eidul-Fitr
or `Eidul-Adha, because `eids have conditions and guidelines such as not being
allowed to fast during the days of Eid. Therefore, birthdays are simply
occasions of a person's date of birth and are a matter of culture. If a person
wants to commemorate his/her date of birth, then he/she may do so, especially
if he/she takes the opportunity to reflect on the past and pledge to be better
during the following year. However, to make the birthday an important occasion
is not recommended or encouraged."(Excerpted, with slight modifications, from:
www.islamicity.com)

Shedding more light on the issue, the prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Tajuddin
Hamid Al-Hilali, Mufti of Australia and New Zealand, states:
"A Muslim has a distinguished personality. He should not imitate others in
evil things and leave the good ones.Talking to our children about their birthdays, we should remind them that
on such days they should remember the blessings of Allah and praise Him for
giving them life and guidance. It
would be better if we ask them to offer something in charity as a form of
showing gratitude.

Still there is nothing wrong if we try to make them feel happy on that day as
long as we are using lawful things. It is better if we make it a day ahead or a
day after. You said that your children insist on having such a celebration, and
this is really dangerous. If the child insists on having his desires fulfilled
at this early age, what is going to happen when he grows older? We need to be
alarmed and never allow Western traditions that are based on individualism, to
ruin our families. Thus, calling birthdays `eids is not accepted, for this has
no basis in Islam. At the same time, there is nothing wrong if we use these
occasions to inculcate Islamic principles in our children, like showing gratitude
to Allah, praising Him and seizing the chance of this life in performing good
deeds since the older we grow the nearer to the grave we come."

Speaking about the same issue Sheikh Faysal Mawlawi, Deputy Chairman of the
European Council for Fatwa and Research, adds:
“Permissibility is the original ruling in this case, as there is no evidence of
prohibition. The principle of not following the Jews and Christians is really
required in matters of their false claims and beliefs in relation to religion.
Such beliefs are no more than disbelief from an Islamic perspective.

Islam supports the celebration of birthdays if it is an expression of gratitude
to Allah for His bounties, sustenance and blessings in man’s life, as long as
that celebration does not include anything that may displease Allah, the
Almighty. In this context the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was
asked about fasting on Mondays, and he answered: “It is the day on which I was
born.” Muslim scholars take this hadith and the hadith of fasting on the Day of
`Ashura’ (10th of Mharram) as evidence on the permissibility of celebrating
good occasions, which have special significance in our religion such as
occasions like the birthday of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

In this context, people must be aware that celebrating such occasions, e.g. the
Prophet’s birthday, is no more than a matter of habit, and by no means a
religious requirement. However, if it entails any forbidden practices, such a
celebration becomes forbidden for that reason alone. Moreover, a celebration of
this sort becomes recommended if it includes recommended acts of worship.

It is also right to say that such celebrations contain some aspects of
innovation, however it is an innovation in matters of popular habits not in
matters of religion. Actually innovation in habits is not prohibited. What is
prohibited in this context is innovation in religion, as indicated in a
well-known Prophetic hadith.

By analogy, there is nothing wrong in celebrating birthdays, as long as the
celebration does not include any forbidden practices.”

Celebrating birthdays is a pagan
practice associated with astrology. The ancient pagans calculated the birth
dates of kings, rulers and their successors & meticulously examined
horoscopes and birthday omens because they believed that the fate of the rich
and powerful might affect an entire society. Unfortunately even today we see
many Muslims putting their trust in horoscopes instead of Allah.

We know that there is no record
of Prophets celebrating their birthdays. Even the Bible agrees with this view
point. One of the verses from the Bible that speaks about birthday is not of
any Prophet’s but is of Pharaoh.

“And it came to pass the third day, which was
Pharaoh’s birthday that he made a feast [birthday party] unto all his servants:
and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his
servants. And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he
gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand: but he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had
interpreted to them”(Genesis 40:20-22).

We observe that in ancient Egypt, the
pharaohs ordered businesses to close on their birthdays and gave enormous
feasts for hundreds of servants. In ancient Greece, wealthy males joined
birthday clubs composed exclusively of men who shared their birth date. Once a
month, the club celebrated with a feast. When a member died, he left money to
help pay for future parties. In Persia, noblemen observed their birthdays by
barbecuing an ox, a camel and a donkey and serving hundreds of small cakes to
the celebrants. In ancient Rome, the emperor gave huge parties in honor of his
own birthday, which included parades, circuses, and gladiatorial combat. The
celebration of days was so important to the average Roman citizen that the
Roman calendar designated a majority of days for some form of
celebration—including many birthdays of gods and famous men.

Birthday Cake.

History of Birthday Cake can be
traced back to the ancient Greeks who made round or moon shaped honey cakes or
bread and took it to the temple of Artemis -the Goddess of Moon. Some scholars,
however, believe that the tradition of Birthday cake started in Germany in
Middle Ages. Sweetened bread dough was given the shape of baby Jesus in
swaddling cloth and was used to commemorate his birthday. This special birthday
cake later reemerged in Germany as a Kinderfest or the birthday celebrations of
a young child. Germans also baked another special kind of a cake called
Geburtstagorten as it was baked in layers. This was sweeter that the coarse and
bread like cake that were usually made at that time.

Some scholars opine that cake in the
ancient world has association with the annual cycles. Round shapes of cakes
were preferred as these represented the cyclical nature of life. Most
specifically, the sun and moon.

Tradition of Putting Candles on
Birthday Cake

Tradition of placing candles on
Birthday cake is attributed to early Greeks, who used to place lit candles on
cakes to make them glow like the moon. Greeks used to take the cake to the
temple of Artemis-the Goddess of Moon. Some scholars say that candles were
placed on the cake because people believe that the smoke of the candle carried
their wishes and prayers to Gods who lived in the skies. Others believe that
the custom originated in Germany where people used to place a large candle in
the centre of the cake to symbolize ‘the light of life’.

In present times too, people place
candles on Birthday cakes and a silent wish is made before blowing out the
candle. It is believed that blowing out all candles in one breath means the
wish will come true and the person will enjoy good luck in the coming year.
Some also smear out the name of the person before slicing of the cake to bring
good luck.